Hey all, Just wanted to put another trigger warning before this.
Chapter Twenty-One: No More Warnings
The second Katherine opened the door to the guest house, she knew.
They were waiting.
Rosalie stood near the fireplace, still as a statue, a glass of blood in her hand. Kate sat at the edge of the couch, arms folded, her eyes locked on the door the moment it opened. Both of them were silent—but the air between them was crackling.
Katherine stepped inside slowly, snow melting on her boots. The warmth of the house hit her like a wall, but it didn't soothe her.
Not this time.
Kate stood immediately, moving toward her with controlled, deadly grace. "You smell like whiskey and weed."
Katherine blinked, playing it cool. "I went out. I said I needed space."
"You went back to that bar," Rosalie said from across the room, her voice low and dangerous.
Katherine dropped her coat onto the back of a chair. "Yeah, I did. I had a couple drinks. I danced. I blew off steam. That's all."
Kate stepped closer, her nostrils flaring. "You also smell like him."
Katherine stiffened.
Kate's voice dropped further. "Jake."
Katherine held up both hands. "Nothing happened. I was literally just drinking and having some fun."
Rosalie said nothing.
"He did try to kiss me," Katherine added, quieter and very unnecessarily. "But I……pushed him off."
The crack of glass shattering made Katherine flinch.
Rosalie stood motionless, her hand still raised, blood running down her wrist from the glass. She didn't even blink.
Kate stared at Katherine like she didn't know whether to kiss her or kill her.
"Do you want this?" she asked, voice vibrating with fury. "Or do you just like toying with us?"
Katherine's chest tightened and she rolled her eyes. "My head is all over the place! You can't blame me for needing space!"
Rosalie's voice was low and cold. "You can have space whenever you want, Katherine. We've never stopped you."
Kate stepped back, voice flat. "But if that's what you really want… maybe you should sleep on the couch tonight. Since it's clear you need space from us."
That did it.
Katherine's expression snapped into fury.
She stormed forward, fire in her eyes, her chest nearly colliding with Kate's as she got right in her face.
"I do want this!" she shouted. "I want you. But it's intense, it's overwhelming, and it scares the hell out of me!"
Her voice cracked, but she didn't pull back.
"And sometimes, I just want to feel like I'm not drowning in all this fate and bonds and submission! Like I'm still me—not some girl you've both already decided belongs to you!"
Rosalie tensed, jaw tight.
Kate's eyes darkened—but she stayed quiet.
"And you know what?" Katherine continued, her voice sharper now, more cutting. "At least with Jake, I could breathe. I could laugh. I could pretend—for five goddamn minutes—that I wasn't being dragged into some ancient vampire claiming ritual I didn't ask for!"
The silence after her words was deafening.
Rosalie looked like she'd been slapped.
Kate's jaw clenched. Her entire body went rigid.
Katherine's chest rose and fell in rapid breaths.
Then Katherine backed away, shaking her head.
"You know what?" she muttered running her hands through her hair. "I can't do this. This is just too much."
She turned toward the door.
And walked right into Rosalie.
Her path blocked again.
Katherine laughed bitterly, staring at her. "Really? Are we doing this again?"
Rosalie didn't answer with words. She simply stared. And when Katherine glanced between them, her stomach dropped.
There they were. Their eyes were black again.
Not gold.
Just Black.
Kate's voice was quiet and lethal. "We warned you, Katherine."
Rosalie stepped closer, eyes like twin voids. "We told you what would happen if you did this again."
"I said I don't want the bite," Katherine snapped. "Not right now."
Katherine tried to push past Rosalie—her breath ragged, hands trembling with adrenaline—but Rosalie moved faster.
Her arm wrapped around Katherine's waist like a steel bar, dragging her back with effortless strength. The contact was searing. Controlling. Intimate in a way that made Katherine's breath hitch.
"Let go of me!" she shouted, struggling, her body twisting in defiance. "Now!"
But Rosalie didn't budge.
A second later, Kate was there—right behind her—grabbing her wrists and pinning them behind her back with expert precision. Her chest pressed against Katherine's spine, her breath brushing hot against her neck.
"You don't get to run, Katherine," Kate growled, voice low, rough. "Not again."
Katherine thrashed between them, her heart slamming against her ribs. She was surrounded—boxed in—and every instinct screamed fight. But underneath that panic, underneath the chaos…
…there was want.
Rosalie stepped in, close enough that their foreheads nearly touched. Her golden eyes were dark, her lips parted—not with rage, but with control. With hunger.
Her voice dropped to a near-whisper. Gentle. Dangerous.
"You need to understand," she said. "This isn't about punishment."
Katherine froze—body still tense, but her breathing faltered.
Rosalie's eyes never left hers.
"It's about claiming what's already ours."
Kate's grip tightened on her wrists, not enough to hurt—but enough to remind her who was in control. Rosalie's hand slid up Katherine's side, thumb brushing just under her ribcage.
"You came back drenched in someone else's scent," Kate murmured behind her, voice sharp with restraint. "Do you even understand what that does to us?"
"You ran," Rosalie whispered. "You wanted to feel like yourself again. But you are yourself—with us."
Katherine's eyes fluttered shut for a heartbeat. Her pulse was out of control. Her body trembled between theirs, caught between resistance and surrender.
And the terrifying part?
She didn't know which she wanted more.
Katherine thrashed once more, but they didn't flinch.
Her body betrayed her, heat rising where fear should've been.
And she knew:
They weren't going to let her run anymore. They were going to take her.